Ryan Gosling — perhaps most well-known as Noah in gushy romantic flick The Notebook — is trying on a more macho look and playing Julian, a British mobster living in Bangkok, who runs a Thai boxing club. The movie's plot centers around Julian tracking down the man responsible for killing his brother, with a few extra rough boxing scenes thrown in there, too.

While his mug might be seriously deformed here, the actor's body had to be in top shape for the role. Ryan exercised for 2 hours everyday, practicing a type of martial art called Muay Thai, which is similar to kickboxing.